Sociopath
by Precious Pup
Summary: Tony and McGee are held hostage and are helped by someone unexpected.McGee centric but whole team involved.
1. Chapter 1

_Sociopath - of, relating to, or characterized by asocial or antisocial behavior or exhibiting antisocial personality disorder_

She reached for him and they kissed. Tim wrapped one arm around her waist and pulled her close while one hand held her head, tangled in her glossy hair. The adrenaline still surged through him. So close too close.

Their frantic escape, the sound of the screaming tires, the angry shouts, and the stinging zip of the bullets passing by their heads roared through his head. She had a deep bloody graze on the side of her head where a bullet had just missed her which was now dripping hot blood down the side of her face. So close, too close. He wiped it away with his thumb smearing it and kissed her deeply, passionately again. Images of her body slumped to the ground riddled with bullets spun through his head and he tried to erase them with his desperate hungry kiss.

She pulled away out of breath and smiled "I'm sorry Tim"

"For what?"

"For this"

Tim felt the pain a fraction of a second after the long silver blade pierced his side. His eyes grew wide as he struggled to comprehend what was happening. He still gripped her in his arms but now he held her for support as the pain and shock washed over him. She pulled the bloodied blade out and threw it aside into the grass at the side of the road. A huge welling of blood seemed to gush warm and wet down his side His brain seemed to be acting in slow motion giving him reports moments after he needed them.

He looked at her his big green eyes imploring. "I,…I don't understand?"

"I told you I don't do hospitals Tim" She blinked several times and stepped forward slowly lowering him to the ground. She rapidly took his jacket off as he cried out in pain as the twisting motion flooded the remains of his white shirt with his blood. She wadded it up and shoved it against the stab wound grabbing his hand and forcing him to hold it there.

"Why?" He cried out to her his voice harsh and breaking.

She simply reached into his pocket and opened his phone. "Gibbs, you find him on the side of the road. Lockhart Street. Down by the docks. If you need it track the phone. I will leave it on. Oh and bring an ambulance" With that she tossed the phone over her shoulder to land meters from the knife. She stood and paused for a moment then bent down and kissed him gently on the forehead.

"Thanks for saving me" With that she turned on her heel and hopped into the Porsche.

The last sight Tim saw before he passed out on the rough ground were the wheels of his car spinning as the car leapt forward in a cloud of dust and rocks and drove away from him.

She slipped her sunglasses on to cover her eyes as she stepped on the accelerator and steered the Porsche out onto the road. She didn't want him to see her tears, that would spoil it all. Her heart ached at the betrayal in his eyes. He had to learn it sometime. At least he had learnt it at the hands of someone who cared for him.

Her throat constricted and she allowed herself to sob. He was a smart guy he would figure it out. He was a Federal Agent and she was on the FBI's 50 Most Wanted List. In fact after today she had probably gone up a few more spots. There was never going to be white picket fences in their future together and they had always known that. Perhaps that was part of the attraction.

He would be ok. It would hurt but Gibbs wouldn't be far away. He never was. She hadn't hit anything vital. Still there was always the risk of infection…. Of him bleeding out. Alone in the dust on the side of road. No that wouldn't happen! That wasn't the way it was going to work. It wasn't the way they worked.

No concentrate. He would be fine. She was the one to worry. The car was too recognizable, she had to get away to somewhere safe and then ditch it. She sped the car even faster through the traffic considering her plans.

(Just in case any of you have been wondering what I have been writing when I have taken too long to update Elflord Mistress, Waiting or You've got to Fight for the Right to Party or... Precious )


	2. Chapter 2

**Four months earlier**

Timothy McGee sighed as he pushed his trolley through the late night supermarket. It had been a long week and here he was contemplating a lonely weekend ahead of him.

_Laundry detergent. Don't forget the laundry detergent. _

He felt weary more than just plain tired. Worn out in both mind and body.

A riveting Friday night for this bestselling author. He pushed his slightly awkward squeaky trolley around the corner.

_Toothpaste. Did he have enough toothpaste? Or was there already a spare one under the sink?_

Still even if someone had asked him out he didn't think he could muster the energy. And besides he didn't have a clean shirt. But wasn't this supposed to be the best time of his life? Foot loose and fancy free? Instead a night watching television beckoned, sprawled out on his bed watching the plasma. He didn't actually watch a lot of television but he didn't think he had the energy to write anything tonight.

_Why were his trolleys always so terrible to push? Stupid trolley._

That reminded him and he headed into the cereal isle for his secret high sugar depressed mood late night snack. He reached for the brightly colored box of dinosaur cereal at the same time as another hand appeared and grabbed the other side.

"Oh sorry" He jerked up his head is surprise, pulled out of his lethargy and found himself staring at a woman in the process of apologizing to him, her hand on his cereal. Or was it his hand on her cereal?

She laughed warmly and Tim felt slightly dazzled by the energy she seemed to be expending.

"Well we seem to be in a bit of a conundrum here."

Tim wasn't quite sure what she was talking about other than she still had her hand on the box. Then again he still had _his_ hand on the box. He smiled and stood a little taller. No need to look scuffy in front of a pretty lady.

"Conundrum?"

"It's the last box."

"No, it can't be? They always have thousands of boxes of this cereal." Tim turned and looked at the shelf and then further up above it in case spare boxes had been placed there. She was right. It was definitely the last box.

"Well then it's yours" Tim released the box and gallantly swept into a bow, stepping back from his trolley, while simultaneously kicking himself for being ridiculous in a supermarket isle.

"Oh I couldn't do that." There was an awkward silence for an instant as they stood there smiling at each other, surrounded by boxes of cornflakes and instant oats.

"How about breakfast together?"

"I'm sorry?"

She smiled and Tim again felt that sort of ache in his chest. She was beautiful and poised and he felt rumpled and out of sorts. Typical. He finally meets someone and it's at the supermarket. How romantic.

"Well since we both obviously have very busy nights ahead of us would you consider meeting for brunch tomorrow? So even though I get the cereal I buy you breakfast to make up for it?"

Tim smiled and decided not to explain that he had been planning on eating it dry out of the packet tonight rather than with milk for breakfast in the morning.

"Ok. That's sounds nice. Sure. Ok. Umm where should I meet you?" His mind suddenly realized she was asking him out. As in a date. As in she _liked him_.

They exchanged times and places and suddenly with a smile and a wave she and her trolley of organic pasta and fine fillet steaks had disappeared around the corner.

Tim stood rather stunned in the center of the isle under the harsh artificial lights. Maybe life wasn't so bad after all.

_Now what was it he was supposed to get?_

Tim realized what it was he was supposed to get when he got home and realized he had no clean clothes and no laundry detergent. It was with a cross sigh at himself that he dropped his groceries on the floor, picked up his keys and headed out again. He wasn't going to ruin his first date in months worrying if she could tell he was wearing a dirty shirt.

Brunch had gone well. Marvelously, amazing well. Her name was Ella, well it actually was Eleanor as in Roosevelt but she had hated it since she was small. They had chatted and laughed and ate. She didn't just pick at a bran muffin but ordered the full hot breakfast complete with crispy bacon. She loved to read and told him about a great book she was currently reading about the Long March in China. He ended up telling her about how he loved to write and how he now had two books published under a pen name.

She seemed to be in some sort in import/export business and she traveled a lot. That was why she was doing grocery shopping late on a Friday night. She had recently returned from being away and didn't have so much as a slice of bread left in her apartment.

Tim found himself fascinated by her and couldn't help asking her questions. It had been a long time since he felt so relaxed around someone he was attracted to.

She didn't mind cats but preferred dogs. Tick

She obviously liked dinosaur cereal. Tick.

She used words like conundrum and understood them. Tick

She liked Jazz and loved books. Tick and tick

She got on well with her family although she didn't get to see them as often as she would like. Tick

She smelt fantastic. Tick

Brunch had wound up and she was full of apology that she had to go. She had clients she had agreed to meet as soon as she was back in Washington. Tim was still blushing from the kiss on the cheek she gave him when she gave him a present.

Tim was surprised as he viewed the shiny wrapping paper and bow. "What is it?"

"Just open it and see" Ella laughed delighted at his embarrassment.

Tim pulled open the wrapping to find a clear zip lock bag …. Full of dinosaur cereal. He laughed.

"It's joint custody now. That is precisely half the box of cereal. I measured it out last night. I also put in there half the box too. The back, bottom and one side. There is a great maze/puzzle thing on the back and you seemed like a puzzle kind of guy."

"That's just great Ella, Thank you."

"Oh you shouldn't thank me yet, Tim"

"Why not?"

Ella leaned in close to him and Tim felt his pulse race at her mischievous eyes. "I wanted to make sure we would have a reason to meet again so I kept the side of the box with the answers on it!"

Tim smiled and took the bait. "You want to meet up again? Well you know just to get the answers to the uhhhh maze? Cause as you know children's cereals dinosaur mazes are notoriously difficult to navigate. I might need the help."

Ella smiled "I thought you would never ask." Suddenly her face fell and she looked regretful "I'm afraid I'm going to be flat out for the next fortnight after this trip though. So would it be alright after that? I don't want you to think I'm blowing you off… its just that if I make it any sooner I will probably have to cancel."

Tim just smiled again. He knew what it was like to be caught up at work. "No that's just fine." Tim got another soft kiss on the cheek and suddenly with a promise to call him in two weeks she was gone.

It was only when he got home that he realized he hadn't told her he was an NCIS Federal Agent. And she hadn't given him her phone number.


	3. Chapter 3

The team picked up a case early in the week and Tim found himself glad that Billie too was busy. A week flew past before he even had an instant to himself.

Suddenly in a rare moment of calm as he tidied up the remaining paperwork he found himself sitting at his desk thinking of her. She was so bold, daring and energetic. She intrigued him. He thought of her every morning when he opened his kitchen cupboard and saw his brightly colored bag of cereal.

Less than a week to go now. That is if she did phone back. Tim remembered her warm lips on his cheek and felt himself flush. No she would phone back.

She had given him a gift, of sorts anyway. What could he give her? He didn't want to embarrass her with something too expensive. Maybe something that would make her laugh? She had a beautiful rich bubbly laugh that sounded kind of dirty somehow. He sat and thought for a moment before he smiled. Perfect.

He finished up his reports with a vengeance inspired now and shot out to the elevator as soon as they had hit Gibbs' desk.

Later that night Tim sat at his cleared work bench with several bowls arrayed in front of him. He had carefully sorted ten boxes of the Dinosaur cereal into the different bowls by colour. He had purchased packets of wooden kebab skewers and several tubes of superglue and a bridal magazine featuring several stunning floral arrangements for inspiration. With a deep breath and a grin at his own ridiculousness he started cutting up the timber skewers and gluing them onto each other to create a framework.

It took several hours but by the end of the night he had the first layer of dinosaur cereal glued in pin wheel fashion to the skewers. He had pink, yellow, blue, green and purple 'flowers' enough to make up a decent bouquet. He also had large piles of broken and crushed dinosaurs as he had experimented on the best way to place them on the sticks. He had collected up a pile of the multicolored cereal dust to use as a final touch as a sort of 'pollen' in the center of his flowers.

He had shaped the blobby cereal bodies into circles for the centers in the second layer and had cut several of the curved dinosaur tails off to place in an array radiating out from the center. He was planning on the yellow flowers having pink centers and 'tails', the blue having yellow and so on. He hoped that by the time they were all wrapped in brightly colour paper with a big bow they might look a little less like cheap children's cereal glued on sticks and a bit more like flowers.

It took two more nights of increasingly painstaking gluing to achieve his goal but he was quite proud of himself when they were done. And now all he had to do was wait.

Tim had actually forgotten what the day was when he reached for his phone sometime after lunch that Thursday.

"McGee"

"Hi Timothy, It's me Billie. I was kind of hoping we would be able to catch up again?"

Tim's face split into a hug smile and he turned away from the others and walked around the corner. "Uh yeah that would be great. How about dinner?"

Billie had loved the 'flowers' in fact it had taken her an instant to realize that they weren't actually flowers at all. All night she had kept glancing at them and marveling at the time and effort it must have taken him. Tim assured her it really hadn't been a big deal, all the while trying to keep the big grin off his face.

"So how was your trip?"

"Not as exciting as you would think. I am used to being my own boss so I contract out. I specialize in imports and exports for a small specialized clientele. Sometimes it seems interesting but really it's a lot of travel, paperwork and spending most of my time stuck in traffic either in cars, trains or at the airport."

"Frustrating. I hate it when that happens."

"Oh I didn't say I hated the traffic. It's about the only time I'm forced to slow down and I'm really able to just think about whatever I want. So I would sit there and I ended up thinking an awful lot about you." Billie smiled up at him and Tim felt his stomach flip flop in a way he hadn't for far too long.

Billie had insisted that he didn't have to follow her home although she let him walk her to her car. She had kissed him on the lips that night when she left. A kiss that Tim felt all the way down to his toes.

Between Tim attending training seminars, new cases coming up, and requests from his persistent publisher and Ellie traveling for work almost continuously they didn't get to see each other as much as they would like. When they did see each other Billie always come to his house, claiming that while Tim's place was small hers had never actually been unpacked out of the moving boxes from two years ago.

Weeks flew past with them snatching whatever time together they could. When they couldn't see each other they tried to think up new inventive gifts to send each other to let the other know they were thinking of them.

One box of very exclusive chocolates consisting of chocolate dipped dinosaur cereal, one pair of dinosaur cuff links, one The Land Before Time children's animated dinosaur DVD, one dinosaur charm bracelet, one bright purple meter high plush dinosaur toy, one varnished solid dinosaur cereal key ring later and Tim couldn't keep the smile off his face.

Tim tried not wriggled as Billie slowly teasingly 'walked' two pieces of dinosaur cereal over his stomach. They hadn't made it out the door for dinner again and the cereal had made yet another appearance at his bedside. As he lay back amongst the rucked up sheets one hand behind his head Tim couldn't think of anywhere else he would rather be than in his bed with this gorgeous playful woman.

"So if you were a dinosaur what do you think you would be?" Billie looked up at him teasingly with a pink and a yellow dinosaur in each hand, wearing nothing but her smile.

"Oh a T-Rex definitely" Tim smiled smugly up at the ceiling.

Billie just made a disparaging sound and continued slowly creeping the cereal lower down his belly and Tim tried not to shiver.

"Why what sort of dinosaur do you think I should be?"

"Oh you would make a much better Brontosaurus."

"A Brontosaurus?! You think I'm a giant long necked vegetarian? Marvelous."

"Oh but you see you do have such a lovely long neck." At this Billie wriggled enticingly up him and started placing gentle kisses down his neck starting right under his ear.

"One….Two….. Three…. Four…..Five…Six…. Seven… Eight. You have an eight kiss long neck. That's pretty long. That makes you definitely a Brontosaurus."

Tim's eyes fluttered closed as he enjoyed the sensation as she slowly made her way down his neck. He wondered if she was going to continue her attentions and when he opened his eyes again she was sitting up, trying to look coy. Well two could play at this game.

"Yeah well you are a Triceratops, oh horny one."

"A triceratops? Why?" Billie pouted at the image of the squat horned dinosaur.

"Because when you wake up in the morning you hair is all sticking up in a big ridge like this!" Tim stuck his hands up behind his head, fingers splayed wide while Billie laughed and threw the cereal at him.

"ROAR" Tim suddenly leaned over and grabbed her leg "You don't throw cereal at the King of the dinosaurs! Look out little herbivore, T-rex is going to come and eat you!"

With a shriek Billie leapt of the bed with Tim chasing her. Tim quickly cornered her in the kitchen and with a final roar picked her up and threw her over his shoulder. He exaggeratedly stamped his way back into the bedroom and threw her onto the bed, both of them laughing breathlessly.

"I warned you. Roarrrr. Brontosaur indeed."

Suddenly Billie's phone rang and with a twist she reached out and grabbed it off the bedside table.

"No Rexxie NO!" Billie dissolved into helpless laughter as Tim tickled her mercilessly and she kicked and squirmed on the bed.

"Who's going to help this poor little herbivore? No Rexxie no please no more." Billie cried out almost in hysterics, tears starting to roll down her face.

Tim's only reply was to roar and start to take big mock bites out of her arm while Billie used her free hand to throw cereal at him.

Gibbs stared at the caller ID. It definitely said McGee and yet all he could hear was a woman yelling and laughing at Rex someone. He turned it off and tossed it to DiNozzo sitting next to him.

"I think I got a crossed line or something. Call McGee and tell him to get his butt down here."

Tony called again. The phone rang once, twice and then suddenly he could hear a woman's voice.

"You think this Triceratops is just going to take it laying down do you? Well Roarrrrr! ' There was a dull thud as if the phone had been dropped and suddenly the phone cut out.

Tony looked at the phone "Triceratops?"

Tim kissed down her neck but he could only manage six. Maybe he did have a long neck?

"So kiss who kiss was kiss on kiss the kiss phone kiss before?

Billie giggled. "Oh it turns out it wasn't my phone after all. It was yours"

"WHAT?" Tim stopped alarmed and suddenly scrambled for the phone.

"Where is it?"

Billie was still laughing "Oh its fine when you think its one of my clients phoning but when your work calls it's all serious?"

"It's just that it could be something important! Where is it! Help me look!"

The two of them scrambled through tossed pillows and crushed cereal looking for Tim's phone.

Gibbs' phone rang and Tony checked the caller ID.

"Looks like McGee's on the phone, Boss"

"About time. Answer it and get him down here ASAP"

Tony answered the call only to hear a slightly panicked and breathless McGee on the other end. And the sound of a woman's smothered laugh in the background.

"Boss, I got a errrr missed call on my phone. Is there anything up?"

"McGee!"

"Tony?"

"Gear up we have a case. Meet you at headquarters." Tony snapped the phone shut with a grin. Was McGee entertaining a lady friend perhaps? Only McGee's pillow talk could consist of dinosaurs.

Tony had been digging at McGee all morning as they processed the crime scene. He would sidle up beside him "Who is she? Where did you meet? How serious is it? Have you guys… you know?"

McGee could only tell him to knock it off and walk away so many times. It was private. They had little enough time together as it was without work interrupting all the time.

When it came time to head back McGee volunteered to sit in the back on the truck as it ensured some peace and space away from Tony. Ziva had quirked an eyebrow at him but didn't say anything.

Tim sat as the truck rocked and pulled out what Billie had smuggled into his trouser pocket when he left this morning. He had flown out the door agitated while she managed to snag his arm and pull him into a kiss before he took off down the hallway. She had leaned on his doorframe and watched him go dressed in one of his t-shirts with her long shapely legs on full display.

It was a yellow triceratops and a pink T-rex shaped piece of cereal kissing. She had stuck their noses together with a bit of glue, probably while he was in the shower. And she must have stuck it in his pocket when she kissed him.

Tim smiled. They had been planning on spending the whole day together. She hadn't even been mad when he told her that he had to go. She hadn't even asked why. Tim looked at the fragile tiny blobs in the palm of his hand. He was going to tell her. The very next time he saw her he was going to tell her he loved her.

He had waited, wanting to be sure. He didn't want to scare her off. He knew he tended to rush things. But they were perfect together. She was smart, funny, daring, a little wild and not afraid of showing her feelings. He smiled down at the two little dinosaurs happily kissing as he considered his new nickname 'Rexxie'.

Suddenly the truck stopped and the back doors swung open flooding him with light.

"Whatcha got there Probie?" Tony snatched what had been sitting in the palm of McGee's hand, trying to see what it was.

"Give it back, Tony!"

"Just let me look at it for a second!"

McGee's hand reached for Tony's as he bolted around the side of the truck.

"Give it back, Tony!"

Tony laughed breathless and his fist closed tighter around it as he dodged McGee again. Stupid Probie, as if he could hide something from him.

Crunch.

Tony's steps halted and the laugh slipped off his face as he felt the fragile object in the hand crumble.

"Ahh McGee" Tony opened his hand to see only pink and yellow crumbs. He looked up at McGee's face as he came again around the edge of the truck. McGee stared at his palm and then glared angrily at Tony.

"You broke it! Tony how could you?"

"Sorry McGee. I didn't mean to break it. I just wanted to see what it was. If you had just showed it to me in the first place." Tony was instantly on the defensive as guilt forcefully plucked at his jacket.

McGee just stared at what was left of Billie's gift as he felt his throat constrict. This was the sort of thing he knew was going to happen. This was exactly why he never told Tony any of this sort of stuff. Anything he cared about just got broken or cut into or stolen and ripped.

"Why do you have to RUIN everything Tony?" He turned and walked angrily away telling himself to get a grip, it was just two bits of breakfast cereal.

When he looked back later it seemed that that was the exact point that everything started to go wrong.


	4. Chapter 4

Tim peered anxiously across at Tony who like him was tied to a chair. The ropes were chafing and cutting his wrists but he couldn't stop himself from twisting and trying to free himself. He hurt all over from the savage beating he had taken before they tied him up and his mouth felt like someone had stuffed cotton wool in it, it was so dry. To top it off they had duct taped over both their mouths so he could only breathe through his bloody half blocked nose. It took concentration to breathe slowly and carefully and not panic and start to suffocate himself.

It was not a good day.

The entire operation had turned sour and now they were being held captive waiting for something or someone to turn up. Hopefully once whatever it was happened they would be dumped somewhere……or killed to prevent witnesses. Not that they had seen much but it could be enough to cost them both their lives.

He look across at Tony who was doing his stoic super brave Senior Agent bit but he had known Tony long enough to know he was worried. He had a nasty cut on his cheek that was bleeding down the side of his face. Tim had an uncharitable thought that if they survived this, the cut if it became a scar would probably make Tony appear cooler. He would be able to brag about how he had received it during a desperate fight for his life.

He on the other hand would probably suffocate from his own snot and be a sad footnote in the Team Gibbs handbook.

Rule 18: Always try to stay alive by breathing when taken hostage

Suddenly in the outer room there seemed to be a flurry of activity and noise and they both looked up dreading what might come next.

They came at them from behind and Tim tried unsuccessfully to twist around to see how many there were standing behind him.

"This one."

Tim saw Tony struggle in objection as he felt people close around him. Suddenly the duct tape was painfully ripped from his mouth and he gasped for air. Sweet clear oxygen.

"He looks like he will break first."

Suddenly his chair was tilted and dragged off to the side away from Tony, who renewed his struggles desperately holding Tim's frightened gaze.

"What do you want? Where are you taking me? Tony!" He cried out trying to understand why they were being separated. Why had they taken the tape off his mouth?

Tony watched in muffled despair as McGee was dragged from the room into a smaller one off to the side. A moment later it became clear why the tape had been removed as he heard McGee's shrieks of pain coming from behind the closed door.

Oh my god, they were torturing him!

The man they had received the tip off about, Johnson collected a chair and sat calmly in front of Tony.

"I think it would be a very good idea for your friend there if you told me just what you know about our little operation."

Tony closed his eyes to hold back the tears and shook his head. No.

Gibbs would come.

Johnson snapped his fingers and suddenly Tony could hear McGee's screams coming again from behind the door. What where they doing to him? That was almost the worst part. Tony couldn't see and that left it to his imagination to fill in the blanks and it wasn't pretty.

"So who was it that tipped you off? Hummmmm?"

Tony took a deep breath, considering that once they had the information they wanted they would both likely be dead. He would need to buy Gibbs some more time. Some more time through McGee's pain.

He shook his head again. No

Tony looked up at Johnson and burned his face into his brain as he snapped his fingers again and the choking, muffled desperate screams were again ripped from McGee.

Suddenly a woman that Tony had never seen before stepped forward into his field of vision.

"This is taking too long. Let me do it. I will have an answer for you."

Johnson stared at her, appraising. "I didn't think this was really your area of expertise?"

The woman was confident and beautiful. She smiled at Johnson "Getting information from men has been something I have been doing since I was fifteen years old. Bring him back out here and I will show you what I can do."

Johnson considered, flicking his eyes to Tony. "Perhaps now that your friend has been softened up he might be the better target. Do it."

Tony sagged in relief as the soul wrenching cries stopped and turned into muffled gasps instead. Every minute counted and brought them closer to rescue. He begged silently that the transfer back out into the larger room would take some time but only an instant passed and Tony watched as McGee, still tied to his chair was dragged back out to his original spot.

His head hung down onto his chest, sweat coating his brow and his breath came in rattley panicked gasps. Tony tried to see if he was ok, straining in his chair. McGee's shirt seemed to have been ripped open and he was covered in blood and bruises.

The woman suddenly stepped in front of McGee

"I will ensure you get out of here alive if you listen exactly to my instructions and follow them. Understand? Do not say anything just nod"

McGee raised his head, his big green eyes alarmed and startled like an animal caught in a trap and contemplating chewing off its own leg. He sucked in a breath at the sight of the woman and opened his mouth "Bil.."

The woman hissed angrily and suddenly snapped McGee's face to the side with the harsh kiss of the gun she held in her hand. McGee moaned and involuntary tears started from his eyes as his cheek burned with fire and his lip split from the impact.

"Do you understand?" Her voice was suddenly gentle and purring.

McGee nodded, his eyes downcast and Tony could feel the approval from the men standing around behind them.

Suddenly she stepped forward and straddling McGee's thighs wrapped her arms behind his neck. She was wearing a fitted skirt and to accomplish such an act it rode up high on her beautiful thighs drawing the gathering men's attention. Tony's eyebrows shot up and he couldn't help but stare as she whispered quietly and intimately into McGee's ear. She pulled back with a smile and McGee nodded his expressive eyes still down cast.

She purred and ran her hand gently down the side of his face. "Yes I' m going to make sure you are all safe and looked after. You just have to tell Gabriel what you saw earlier. Can you do that? For me?"

McGee nodded and Gabriel smiled. She leaned forward and slowly licked up McGee's neck, tasting his sweat. McGee seemed to lean exhausted into her touch, looking for reassurance. The intimacy of the scene drew some halting breathes from the faceless men behind him and Tony watched as Johnson seemed fascinated by what was going down beside him.

McGee's voice started up trembling "There was a tip off… we received through the anonymous line…..at the office…"

Gabriel appeared to be quickly fumbling with McGee's belt and was whispering encouraging near silent words into his ear.

Tony watched in fascinated horror. Holy shit. Surely she wasn't going to……..

Suddenly McGee was free from his bonds and sliding his hands up Gabriel's thigh grabbed the small pistol she had strapped there. He stood, Gabriel already off his lap in one smooth motion and flashing a small knife began cutting through Tony's bonds.

The surprise was so great that McGee got off three shots and downed two before they even realized. Scattering and screaming orders pandemonium broke out. By then Tony's hands were free and Gabriel had pressed a gun into his hands and a second later he was free of his chair, laying down covering fire for McGee.

Gabriel grabbed McGee and practically pulled him to an outer door, Tony following.

"Shit! It's locked."

"What the hell is going on?" Tony gasped, limping a little from the effects of being tied too tight for too long to the hated chair.

"I can't explain. You just have to get him away safely. "

With that Gabriel grabbed the gun she had given Tony and shot through the lock. She kicked impatiently at the door while McGee sagged limp and blood stained at her side his eyes staring at her unseeing.

The door finely swung open and she pushed them both through.

"Go! I will do what I can here. Just get him some help." Suddenly she pulled McGee into a tight embrace and kissed him passionately before releasing him.

"I'm sorry Tim"

And just like that she was gone.

(

(So what do you think so far? Let me know if its holding your interest)


	5. Chapter 5

Tim shuddered and trembled, shock beginning to overcome panic. Tony was hauling on his arm as they stumbled and ran. Tony was saying something to him but he couldn't seem to concentrate on it.

Billie was supposed to be in Chicago!

Billie _pistol whipped_ him! His cheek and lip still stung from the impact but the pain seemed lost among the thousand other hurts he seemed to be feeling. He had the overwhelming desire to throw up, close his eyes and hide from the world. In that order.

Still he owed it to Tony to try and get as far away as possible. If he faltered Tony would stop to, to try and help. His mind and body screamed in anguish and confusion.

It wasn't Billie. It couldn't be. This _Gabriel_ was so different from the warm woman who glued dinosaur cereal together and slipped it into his pocket.

But she called him Rexxie! She whispered reassurance into his ear and told him it would be all right even as she distracted and worked on his ropes. She got both of them out alive. And now she was………

"Tony!" Tim stopped suddenly and Tony almost stumbled suddenly released from his burden.

"We have to go back!"

"Back? Are you mad?"

"She saved us and she's facing them all alone!"

The sounds of a fierce firefight broke out behind them and Tim turned horrified as black smoke started billowing out of the shattered side windows of the warehouse.

Suddenly there was the sound of a familiar voice.

"Tony!"

Gibbs and Ziva belted around the corner in bullet proof vests leading several others, equally armed to the teeth.

"Come on Probie we need to get out of the line of fire here. We have to GO!" Tony resumed tugging on Tim's arm as he swayed conflicted and bloody still looking at the warehouse now swarming in federal agents.

"Look there's nothing we can do now. We will just be getting in the way."

The slight trembling became a shudder and Tim's knees gave way beneath him as he tried to step towards Tony and safety. Every breath seemed so painful. Nauseating blackness swept over him as he felt strong reassuring arms both sides of him pulling him away.

((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((

"What the hell happened Tony?"

Gibbs knelt down beside Tony as he sat while the slash on his cheek was being cleaned and taped shut.

"I honestly don't know Boss. One minute I thought we were goners. They were …… hurting McGee in another room trying to make me talk. The next some woman said she could do better and they pulled McGee out. She pistol whipped him across the face and then the next she was all over him, sitting on his lap and whispering in his ear. Suddenly he was free and he grabbed a gun she had strapped to her thigh. She cut me free and basically shoved us out the door."

"So you've never seen her before?"

"Nope and I would definitely remember."

"Any idea why she would help you like that?"

Tony shook his head. "No idea. It was pretty weird but I wasn't stopping to question her motives. They called her Gabriel and said something about this not being her usual area of expertise so I gather questioning captives isn't her usual line of work"

"Can you describe her?"

"Beautiful, slim, fit, long dark brown hair, hazel eyes. Early thirties, quite tall say 5.8'? Seemed well spoken, smart too with a bit of a vicious streak."

"Fit's the description of the woman we've got down stairs. I'll make sure she is kept separated from the others we're holding until we can figure out what's going on"

"How's McGee doing Boss?"

Gibbs paused hearing the worry in Tony's voice and knowing that he blamed himself for McGee's battered state.

"He'll be fine Tony. He will be more purple and green for a while from the bruises and they have bandaged and stitched up the worst of the cuts. Apparently they slashed at him with some broken glass. Worked over his weak shoulder. A couple of cracked ribs seems to be the worst of it. They have given him some pretty heavy meds and he's sleeping it off at the moment. He will be stiff and sore for a good while and he looks like crap but it could have been a lot worse. A hellava lot worse."

Tony nodded, his head down as he heard Tim piercing screams clawing their way viciously through his subconscious.

"Hey Tony. You did what you had to do. Just as McGee did. He doesn't blame you, you know. This wasn't anyone fault."

Tony nodded his head still downcast. 'Hey!" Gibbs slapped him on the back of head

"McGee does not need to worry about making you feel guilty for something beyond your control at the moment. Ok?"

Tony gave Gibbs a small smile, sitting up and meeting his eyes while the nurse who had just finished with her patient looked across in concern at this form of discipline.

"Yeah Boss. You going to need help processing these guys?"

(((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((

Gibbs looked up rubbing his weary eyes as a very long night following an even longer day rolled out behind him. He hadn't even taken a moment just to be grateful that they had found them.

Tony and Tim were alive.

Missing, gone far too long and finally amongst the adrenaline and shouted orders to turn that corner and see Tony practically carrying McGee towards them he had felt something greater than relief surge through him.

He didn't want to tell Tony as he knew he felt bad enough already but the sight of McGee's boyish young features pale and smeared in blood had shocked him. He had practically collapsed in his arms as he and Tony had dragged him clear of the scene.

Still Gibbs was proud of him. He was a good kid and stronger than he looked. Strike that. He was a long way from being a kid anymore. He was a seasoned agent and an excellent man. He would be glad to have McGee covering his back in any operation.

"Gibbs"

Gibbs looked up in surprise at Fornell, standing beside his desk. He must be more tired than he thought if Fornell had managed to sneak up on him.

"Fornell what are you doing here?"

"Ahh such a warm welcome as always"

Gibbs smirked and shook his head. "I can tell you're in fine form. I'm going to need more coffee for this. Let's talk and walk Fornell"

The two men left the Bullpen and headed out of the building.

"So Fornell what's got you out of bed this late? Or should I say this early?"

"Well Gibbs I believe that in that haul of slimy wriggling mid level crims you caught today you might have accidentally caught one of our big fish."

Gibbs just watched Fornell as he sipped his coffee, a doubtful look on his face. "I've already interrogated most of them and while a bit on the nasty side they don't seem like the sort to get you this excited."

"We have been tracking an international small arms dealer for the last few years. On our 50 most wanted list. Keeps popping up all over the world. Always works through intermediaries. Very smart. Not so much as a fingerprint on him. Constantly moving around. We have been coming up blank except for a name. Gabriel. When your initial report came through the name was reported directly to me and here I am."

Gibbs smiled at Fornell. "Well you really don't have much information then. If it's the same person then it's not a him but a her."

"What?"

"The Gabriel that we have in the holding cells at the moment is a woman not a man."

Fornell just sat there and stared at Gibbs before he laughed. "Well I'm going to be having a little chat to Intel after this. Normally we can at least get the gender right. No wonder we have been having so much trouble identifying him… er her."

Gibbs and Fornell sat in silence for a moment considering.

"I would appreciate it if I could be there when you speak to her Jethro. She's your catch and I understand that you're going to want to find out what happened to your agents in there. But if she is who I think she is then she's going to have a Pandora's Box of contacts and information that every agency in the country will be lining up to get to. I would appreciate it if I could be first in line."

Gibbs nodded. "I think I can arrange that. Besides first we need to find out if she is really the Gabriel that you're after. I personally have my doubts. I wanted to speak to McGee and find out what she said to him first, that's why I left her to last. It seems that for some reason she helped McGee and Tony get out of there and I would like to know why. He should be up and about in the morning and I will be in a better state as well. How about you meet me back here mid morning and we see what we have caught."

Fornell nodded and disappeared again back to his paper lair.

Gibbs sighed and finished the coffee he really shouldn't be drinking if he was supposed to get any sleep at all. Just what the hell was really going on here?

Timothy McGee lay alone in the darkness, numb both in body and mind replaying the few minutes he had spent with the woman who called herself Gabriel and looked like the woman he loved over and over in his mind. He studied every word, every action trying to find an explanation as the warm tears slipped from his eyes unseen.

(

(Ok so please review and let me know your reading. Next up is a good bit. The interrogation where Gabriel and Tim meet again and confront each other)


	6. Chapter 6

_(changed the ending of this chapter slightly to make it better. No I haven't forgotton this story. I will get there. Reviews and inspiration )_

Tim took a deep breath and stepped into observation. The small room seemed full with Tony, Gibbs, Ziva, Fornell and one of the faceless technicians already in there.

They all turned and were saying things to him, smiling, touching his sleeve, nodding but he didn't hear them. Instead he was drawn irrevocably towards the woman sitting on the other side of the glass.

Billie

She sat patiently, eyes down behind the familiar desk dressed in an orange jumpsuit her beautiful face and hair smoke stained and smeared.

Tim turned and quietly cut through the noise behind him "I want to speak to her"

Gibbs watched McGee as he moved carefully further into the room, his aching body obvious in his hesitant halting movements.

"Woah there McGee. I wanted you here to get some insights into why you think she helped you and DiNozzo out. Not to be the one to take her on yourself. Fornell believes she's actually an international small arms dealer they have been trying to track down. At the bottom of their fifty Most Wanted list."

Tim just shook his head, despairing. Great. It just got better and better. All those trips away. Importing, exporting? Never seeing her apartment? What sort of investigator was he that he hadn't seen the signs? He felt himself jump to his own defense. Who would have been on the lookout for this though? It sounded more like the plot in one of his novels than real life.

Tim looked up at Gibbs and held his gaze "I know exactly why she saved me. Us."

Silence fell around the little room as they all turned and looked at him.

"Well Probie don't keep us waiting. You've obviously been trying to figure this out all nig…"

"She's my girlfriend"

Tim never thought he would succeed in surprising the great Tony DiNozzo more than the time he told him he had got a tattoo but Tony looked amazed. More than amazed. Shocked. As did the others. Tony did in fact recover first, a broad smile spreading over his face.

"Ok buddy maybe its time you dialed down that dose of meds you're on. Or perhaps you got hit on the head harder than we thought?"

Tim decided that he just had to plow on and hope that they could come to understand. He had had the advantage of thinking about this all night and it still seemed surreal to him.

"I know her as Billie Whitely. We have been dating for a while. She told me she was in importing/exporting. Ran her own business. She travels a lot. We didn't get to see each other as often as we would like as either I was working or she was. We met in a supermarket four months ago. She's the one that sent me those dinosaur cufflinks I wore the other day that Tony was giving me grief over. You see we met because of dinosaur cereal and we …."

Gibbs held up his hand and Tim faltered to a stop "Wait. You have been dating this woman and it only occurs to you now to tell us?"

Tim pursed his full lips together looking regretful made all the more poignant by the damage done to his young face, obvious even in the dim lighting.

"I'm sorry Boss. I've been trying to make sense of it. I was trying to convince myself that she was a different person but when I was tied up she was telling me things, things that only Billie would know and telling me it would be ok and she would get me out. It didn't seem like her though. It was like a different personality and yet not. Tony will tell you, she kissed me goodbye when she got us out. "

Fornell stepped towards Tim, his voice loud in the small room.

"Are you telling me that you're the _lover_ of that woman in there?"

All eyes suddenly followed his pointed finger and took in the sight of the captive woman on the other side.

Tim didn't trust himself to speak as he saw again the familiar frame of the woman he thought he loved looking so vulnerable, beloved and simultaneously unrecognizable. He just nodded instead as they stared at him.

"Please Boss. I just need to talk to her. To make sure that it really is her. Just once. Please?"

Tim heard the pleading in his own voice and didn't care. He would go down on his knees and beg Gibbs if he had too, although he might have to have help getting up again.

Gibbs looked at Tim's face trying to read all the emotions that flashed across it. If it had been anyone else he might have thought he was lying but McGee was one of the most honest people he knew. And a terrible liar to boot. If McGee needed to talk to her to figure out whatever was going on then it might just rattle her enough to give them what they needed too.

Gibbs had already watched her through the glass for over an hour now and he knew she was simply settling in, expecting a long day of questioning. A professional who would be hard to rattle with tricks and idle threats. This Gabriel hadn't so much as asked for a drink of water let alone a lawyer. Gibbs suspected she was more dangerous than all the other men combined but he needed answers and McGee might just give them some of them.

Gibbs nodded "Alright then McGee. Go talk to her."

Fornell objected "Gibbs? You can't be serious about letting him in there?"

Gibbs smirked "You'll get your information Fornell. Trust me. And McGee?"

Tim looked up at Gibbs, a thousand different questions already flooding through his brain. "Yeah Boss?"

"Be careful. She's dangerous. Don't let your guard down"

Tim opened his mouth to deny it but then thought better of it. Dangerous?

"Yes Boss"

He stood alone in the hallway for a minute and took a deep calming breath before he firmly pushed open the door and took the available seat across from the woman.

_"Shut Up Tony"_

As soon as McGee had stepped out of the room Tony had begun to dispute any reality which had McGee as lover to this as he put it 'whack job'

Gibbs watched as the woman lifted her head and looked up at McGee from under her mane of greasy chestnut hair. There was recognition in the eyes but no more. She wasn't going to make this easy. It was enough though.

"Well I'll be dammed" Gibbs had opened his mouth to say the exact thing but Fornell beat him to it. They all instinctively leaned closer to the glass even though the sound was coming through from speakers in the ceiling.

Tim sat and didn't know how to start. What did he want her to say? That she loved him? That she was a stranger and they had never met before? That she might have left her jacket in his car after their date last week?

Tim decided to start with the obvious and just see where it led him. His smile was small and tight and his voice was strained.

"So what should I call you? Billie or Gabriel?"

"I don't know Agent McGee. What do you prefer Tim or Thom?" Her look was intense as she watched him.

So she didn't deny it. Tim knew it had to be her but he still felt it as an almost physical blow. He reeled back slightly in his chair as he re adjusted his world to include her on the side of the 'bad' people while he firmly sat on the 'good'.

Tim smiled sadly "It would appear that nether of us is who we thought"

The two watched each other as if standing on the opposite sides of a canyon. Suddenly Gabriel smiled softly and reached out to stroke gently down the bruised side of McGee's face with the back of her index finger.

"I think violence suits you Rexxie. Shows off your strength."

Her movement suddenly released some of the emotion Tim had curled up inside like a spring that he had held controlled all these hours.

"You pistol whipped me and that's what you have to say? Violence suits me?" Tim heard the anger in his voice and couldn't have held it in check if he tried.

_"Uh oh All right be ready in case we need to get in there and tear these two apart. This could be messy"_

"Now Boss?"

"No not yet. Let's just see where it goes"

Gabriel sat up straighter and her eyes flashed in response to McGee's righteous anger.

"What did you want me to say? Sorry? I could have left you there to suffer. I didn't. I could have broken your cheekbone. But I didn't. You aren't exactly the first man I have pistol whipped, Timothy. Slight change of angle, shift of force and *crack* half your face could have caved in. But I didn't.

I saved your life you know. I could have left you there to suffer Darcy's' tender mercies. Isn't the single pain of a pistol blow to the face from a friend better than ongoing torture from an enemy?"

Gabriel shot a quick, assessing glance over her shoulder at the marine standing watching from the corner as she sat back down from the slightly raised position her impassioned words had taken her and waited for McGee's response.

Tim considered this as the silence rang out and acknowledged the truth of what she said.

His mind jumped back to the instant when he was tied to the chair and he was feeling total terror at what they were going to do to him. How he had reached out with his mind and begged silently for someone to come help him as he screamed in pain.

"Thank you for saving my life and Tony's as well"

His voice was quiet again and he inclined his head in her direction. The rage of a moment ago was gone leaving just a white, salt blasted, tear dried landscape void of emotion.

Gabriel dropped her head down slightly accepting the thanks. She continued to watch him cautiously as if unsure who was really the prey and who was predator.

"They don't really know who you are."

_Gibbs hissed in his breath, loud in the quiet room wondering if his trust in McGee had been a huge misstep. Trusting a hurt and possibly bewildered young team member to conduct a valuable interrogation._

"Gibbs?" Fornell's voice held warnings of mistrials, insubmissable evidence and botched convictions.

Gabriel smiled darkly "Oh they will. Now they have me they will go back and check surveillance footage, fingerprints, voice records, everything. They will piece it together and have a very big case against me. My life as I knew it is over Timothy. I will probably never see daylight again. You have thoroughly screwed me Timothy." She smirked up at him from under the thick fall of her greasy hair "In more ways than one."

Tim was glad that his back was facing the mirror so he didn't have to worry about anyone seeing his face. He felt himself blush hot at the intimacy she implied. How could he answer that? I promise to come visit you in jail? I'm sorry you got caught? He fell quiet again.

Gabriel ran her eyes over him, assessing his bruised and slumped form "Since I may not get the chance to talk to you again, how are you?"

Tim shrugged stiffly "Cuts, bruises, countless stitches and a couple of cracked ribs. I don't think there's a spot where I don't ache."

Tim paused "I don't much like your friends, Billie"

Gabriel lifted her hands from under the table and placed them clearly in front of her, rattling the cold metal handcuffs she was wearing against the table top.

"I don't much care for yours either Tim" The smirk from a moment earlier was gone and her eyes turned hard again as she continued to watch him.

Tim opened his mouth to say something then closed it. No. He had to know otherwise it would drive him crazy

"So if I have completely ruined your life why did you step in and save me then? You could have left me there and I would never have known."

There was an instant where she paused, looked down at her clasped hands before lifting her head to look again into his eyes.

"Oh Timmy. Do you really need me to answer that?" Gabriel looked across at him sadly and all Tim could see was his beautiful Billie laughing and wriggling in his arms as they wrestled on his bed amongst the dinosaur cereal.

_"Uhh is this seeming very wrong to anyone else here?" Tony was hesitant ""I know I'm not that big into relationships but this seems a little twisted"_

"Well I think it's sweet. Its not exactly I love you but a rescue from an armed hostage situation is much more practical"

"Sweet? I have said it before and I will say it again. You're one sick chick David."

"Shut up you two!"

"I wasn't going to stand there and listen to you being tortured Tim. Not when I know what he could do to you. At first I didn't believe it was you otherwise I would have stepped in earlier. I couldn't just turn my back and leave you there to die. And he would have killed you, you know. I have heard about what he does. Did "

Tim closed his eyes feeling the despair wash over him. She loved him enough to risk her entire life to save him. And it wasn't enough.

Gabriel smiled up at the glass behind Tim's shoulder. Suddenly she seemed very dangerous and very calm, with eyes that had stared down death and worse and survived.

"Darcy's dead by the way in case you're wondering. I tipped over the sump barrels and set them alight in the warehouse. Cornered the others behind the flames and allowed you a nice easy arrest. Well except for Darcy. Last thing I saw of that cruel bastard was him scrabbling at the grate in the floor while his clothes were alight, screaming about the bullets I put into him. I believe you will find him as a crispy critter somewhere underneath the warehouse."

Gabriel grinned, her teeth sharp and white against her dirty face "Nobody touches or hurts what's mine and gets away with it"

_"Ok we are into serious sicko country here. McGee's little snookums is a bit of a scary bad ass"_

"Shut Up DiNozzo"

"I hope you got that recorded" Fornell was sounding smug.

Tim didn't know whether to feel relieved or disgusted that the man with the wild eyes who had enjoyed his pain so much had come to his own painful end. It was too much in an already tumultuous day. He pushed it aside to consider painfully later when he could call his emotions his own again.

The man had laughed gleefully as he scrapped his flesh with the edge of the jagged bottle, watching as the blood dribbled warm down his chest.

No. Not now. Later.

Tim took a deep breath and instead considered the strength of the woman across from him who had turned and gone back into the warehouse and faced single handedly half a dozen armed men using her courage and her wits to even the odds.

This time it was Tim who reached through his numbness and cupped her face with his hand, his thumb stroking a line down her sooty cheek.

"Explains the mess you're in. I have seen you look better."

Gabriel smiled warmly and leaned into his hand

"Orange never was my favorite color. Oh Timothy. A fish can love a bird but where could they build a home? I'm not who you really thought I was. So you see it's better that you don't know.

"Better how?"

"You couldn't really love me as you don't really know who I am."

"I know part of you. Don't tell me that Billie was a complete fabrication because I know that would be a lie. You laughed, you were happy with me."  
Gabriel dipped her eyes and looked away from him in the first sign of vulnerability she had shown since he had walked in and he knew what he said was true.

"Tell me then. Tell me who you really are"

_Fornell's eyes gleamed in the dim light and he smiled._

Ziva simply felt sad that her friends pain was being recorded permanently into federal record, to be picked over examined and laughed at by unknown analysts.

Tony declared once again to run any serious dating contender through the federal database first and screw the legalities.

"I have killed people Timothy."

Tim looked deep into her eyes and smiled sadly "So have I"

This brought Gabriel to a stop and she smiled at her own surprise.

"You're a field agent. Of course you have. Alright I should be more specific. I have killed innocent people"

Tim met her eyes and thought of the pain he felt when he found out Benedict's true identity. His voice was quiet.

"So have I"

The two watched each other as if a stranger sat there speaking with a familiar voice.

Gabriel continued, determined to prove her point and drive the wedge between them and release her to her fate. At least she would be free. She could act and save herself if she was free. Sweet Timothy didn't deserve to be caught up in her dangerous life.

"Please understand Timothy. I regularly break the law. Not just parking ticket stuff but serious International Law"

Tim almost laughed as he considered how often during a case he had done something illegal.

"I have hacked the Pentagon and the CIA, amongst other things."

Gabriel smirked at him. "Well I knew I was attracted to you for a reason. You are a lot more dangerous than you look."

"Ditto" Tim replied wryly and Gabriel laughed at the tone in his voice.

"Perhaps we should start again. It's nice to meet you. I'm NCIS Special Agent Timothy McGee"

"I'm known to those that need to know only as Gabriel"

Tim reached across the table and shook her hand as if they were meeting for the first time.

"Well since I'm the one in handcuffs I'll go first shall I?"

"Ladies first"

Gabriel smiled tenderly at Tim and shook her head at his gallantry knowing she was far from being a lady.

_"What did I miss?_

Abby snuck into the room eager to see the woman who had hurt and then freed her boys.

"Oh boy. Where do I start? Seems that Gabriel in there is actually…"

"DiNozzo can you keep it down? I'm trying to hear what she is saying."

"Sorry Boss. Ok Abby come here. You are never going to believe….."

"You know how I told you I got that scar on my shoulder from landing on a branch after falling off my horse when I was younger?"

Tim nodded

"Actually it's from a cross bow bolt. I was shot in the Ukraine by a guy who had a thing for Dracula and antique weapons."

Tim thought for a minute of how he had kissed that scar and knew that she remembered that too.

"Remember when I was a bit weird about you reading any of my writing? Well I had a stalker who put together the plot of my upcoming book by stealing my typewriter ribbon. He killed two people and threatened a…. a good friend thinking he was saving me. I haven't been comfortable about anyone seeing any of my writing since."

Gabriel absorbed this confession, considered how the death of two people must have blighted the joy he felt from his writing and then replied, twisting her hands together from the tension.

"I don't actually have any family. I was an orphan and I made up the story of my family when I was younger and have kept them ever since. In reality I was bounced around homes until I was old enough to run away and fend for myself."

Tim remembered admiring how self confident and assured she was. She would have had no choice. He could read between the lines. If she had made a wrong move living a life on the streets as an attractive young woman she would be dead.

"You mentioned that I'm over protective of my sister Sarah? Always calling her and checking up on her? She was charged with the murder of someone she cared for last year. We proved her innocence but she had been drugged with rohipnol and was going to be raped on her campus. I still worry about her."

Gabriel nodded. The confessions were becoming easier now and she didn't care that they were being recorded. She had this one chance to make him see that they couldn't be together. That they were too different no matter what they felt for each other.

"I obviously wasn't in Chicago. I wouldn't normally take such a low end job or bother to do it myself but I…….I wanted to be in Washington for your birthday."

"My birthday?" Tim laughed but it was a laugh that had tears threatening right behind it.

Gabriel looked embarrassed. "I have your present. I was in France last month and I tracked down a rare Billie Holiday Blue Note record. It was one of her first." Gabriel reached across and held Tim's hand in the center of the table trying to get him to understand.

"Don't you see Rexxie? Just trying to get together for your birthday created an international incident. We are impossible together. People died, warehouses burned….

_Fornell was grinning like a Cheshire cat and his eyes gleamed in the dim light._

"She really does care for him."

"What are you up to Fornell?"

Gibbs narrowed his eyes. The only time Fornell was this happy it usually meant mischief.

Fornell continued to grin "Well everyone at the warehouse that saw the allusive Gabriel here rescue two Federal Agents is either under arrest downstairs or dead. So as far as the criminal community is concerned its business as usual. What if we use her and her contacts to bring down a whole wanted list of scumbags? She's got nothing to lose. She already knows she's going to jail. Co operation with us now might get her out before she is eighty."

Gibbs ignored the FBI agent as he continued to watch McGee's hunched figure through the glass.

"And now do you plan on achieving that Fornell? You can't just let her go and try and keep tabs on her. She's too dangerous."

Fornell turned to Gibbs with an unreadable look in his eye.

"Do you trust McGee?"

Gibbs snorted "Of course I trust McGee! He is a valuable member of my team. I trust him with my life."

"Enough to be her Control Officer? Do you trust him enough to guard a woman he obviously cares about? And then to send her to jail afterwards?"

The silence in the small room was deafening and Gibbs turned to Fornell with a look of disbelief on his face.

"And they say I'M a Bastard."


	7. Chapter 7

_"Darcy's dead by the way in case you're wondering. I tipped over the sump barrels and set them alight in the warehouse. Cornered the others behind the flames and allowed you a nice easy arrest. Well except for Darcy. Last thing I saw of that cruel bastard was him scrabbling at the grate in the floor while his clothes were alight, screaming about the bullets I put into him. I believe you will find him as a crispy critter somewhere underneath the warehouse."_

Darcy groaned and tried to reorient himself in the darkness. He was wet and pain seemed to be the only thing he could concentrate on. Overwhelming pain that throbbed and shrieked and seemed to center on his right shoulder. He tried to roll over and found that his arms seemed to resist his strict instruction. Was he in a ship? Why was everything moving? No the world wasn't moving, he was. He was trembling. Why was he trembling?

Screaming. Flames. Gunfire. That BITCH!

Suddenly everything became clear. Gabriel had betrayed them, freeing the two federal agents. There had been a firefight and she had shot him. She had stood there with that feral gleam in her eye and almost gleefully tried to end his life. He had frantically tried to escape down through a grate in the floor. He realized what the wetness he was lying in was. Water run off and probably judging by the smell other less desirable things. Still at least his luck had held and it had been enough to put out the flames but not enough to drown him while he lay unconscious.

How long was he out? Not long judging by the scraping and yelling noises somewhere above and to the right of him. The last thing he had seen of the others, they had been cornered behind the fierce flames in the corner of the warehouse. He couldn't count on them for help then. In fact by now they were probably under arrest and headed for a long stretch if the agents had managed to raise the alarm. He peered through the darkness to see a patch of light at the gratings mouth, several feet beyond him. He needed to get out of here. Every moment wasted meant more blood lost and less chance of escape.

With another groan and a flare of anger at the woman who put him there, Darcy grit his teeth and rolled over onto his front and began to slowly drag himself further down the rough dank wet tunnel. It had to lead somewhere didn't it?

Pain overwhelmed him and he hung his head, shaking with exhaustion. No! There was no way he was going to give her the satisfaction of dying. No way. Besides he wasn't going to have his last moments in some stink filled sewer to die among the diseased and scorned.

He was going to lie low, get patched up and cleansed of this disgusting filth and then he was going make sure she was ripped apart just like he had been. Trapped like a rat and screaming in pain and terror.

Darcy grinned in the shadows and started to drag himself further down the tunnel, ignoring the pain and the spots dancing in his vision.

Yes. He would entertain himself with how many horrible ways she could die by his hand.

And while he was at it he would enjoy torturing that agent she seemed to have a soft spot for. Yes. He could see his terrified face as he smashed the glass bottle and dug it into his tender pale flesh as he tried to escape from the chair he was tied to.

McGee. NCIS Special Agent McGee.

Perhaps he would torture him first, slowly and then kill her? Make her watch as his blood drained away and his struggles finally stilled until at last his eyes clouded over.

Darcy grinned through the pain and spat out the blood in his mouth, while he dragged himself ever further down the torturous tunnel.

Was that another patch of light down there? Faint but growing in brightness?

The others had been watching from the nearby safe house, waiting for the deal to go through and the transfer to be made. His paranoia didn't seem so ridiculous now. They would already know that everything had gone south and they would be counting the bodies, counting the arrests, attempting a clean up. They would come for him. He just had to get out.

Perhaps he should poison the young agent? Make her watch as he twitched and screamed. Rat poison. Perfect. Such delicious irony.

Darcy almost would have laughed if he had been able to spare the energy. Instead he doggedly ignored the pain, the filth and the blood and dragged himself another arms length closer to the light that represented his freedom.


End file.
